Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to ask a question to the Minister of ITI. This morning on CBC we heard representatives from the Fort Nelson First Nation Band talk about the impacts of hydraulic fracking in the area. Certainly they have their challenges and it’s good to hear their stories for the Sahtu.
I want to ask the Minister, in regards to the activity that is happening up in the Sahtu region, has this department been calculating or analyzing some of the benefits that are going on with the recent economic development activities?
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Certainly, there’s been some significant advancement in the Sahtu because of the activity that’s taking place there. In Tulita, for example, we’ve seen a number of Aboriginal-owned businesses in Tulita, be it six in 2010. Last year we had 28 Aboriginal-owned businesses in Tulita and I think that says a lot.
We’ve seen grocery sales go up 200 percent, vacancy rate at the hotels in Norman Wells are up around the 90 percent mark. We’ve seen a number of people be employed. You can also look at a figure like 150 percent in the amount of gas that’s been purchased. Grocery sales are up 300 percent. There is obviously a lot happening. There is a lot of money being spent in the Sahtu. A lot of people are working, and some other telling statistics are we’ve seen the amount of income support – and I know this question came up in the House the other day on income support – in the Sahtu drop by $1 million in the last two years. I think that’s a great figure to put out there. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, going back to the two ladies, the chief and the lands director from Fort Nelson, they talked about striking a balance. Certainly we hear the benefits that Mr. Ramsay indicated. Now we are talking about striking a balance of the economic benefits plus looking at the sustainability of our land, water and animals. Mr. Ramsay communicated with the Minister of ITI. We are actually on the verge of a huge turning point in the Northwest Territories.
Is there some type of discussion with his department and ENR, saying we need to look at balance with the land and with the economic development that is happening in the Sahtu?
Mr. Speaker, certainly that is our goal going forward, is to have an integrated approach to resource management here in the Northwest Territories involving the departments of ITI, ENR and also the new Lands department. That’s something that we’re very excited about. We believe we can strike a balance. We believe we can protect the environment, have sustainable development and also see the economy grow, providing the much needed jobs and opportunities for the people that live in the Northwest Territories. Thank you.
That’s good to know. Would the Minister then look at some type of forum so that people in the Sahtu, people in the Northwest Territories could have that discussion as to the types of regulations we have with the Land and Water Board and environmental types of agreements in place with the economic development activity, have that forum or summit in the Sahtu so that we can properly negotiate our way through this type of activity that is happening in our region?
Mr. Speaker, I have committed to looking at a readiness session in the Sahtu sometime in the very near future. Perhaps as part of that readiness session, we could also look at an information session on devolution, what it means, how things are going to work, and that would be perhaps very beneficial for residents in the Sahtu.
I know our government has done a tremendous amount of communications, getting word out in newspapers, on radio and through town hall meetings that we’ve had. Certainly, if there is more of an appetite out there for information on devolution and how it works, that’s something we could certainly look at. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. With the amount of dollars going into the Sahtu and people having that type of opportunity, those are some good things that people are doing with the money. There are also some things that people are not doing so well. With this type of readiness session sometime in the future, hopefully it will be in the next five months, we want to look at the social impacts.
Recently, we’ve seen lots of liquor being confiscated by the RCMP. We need to talk about some of the social issues. Will that be part of the forum?
If we were to expand that type of discussion, that certainly would involve other departments. I know when we’ve had the readiness session in the Sahtu in the past, other departments were involved. From the social side of things, we could look at including other departments again in discussions in the readiness session that will be held in the Sahtu again in the near future. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Blake.
